sad about Lyubov, I hope she finds new happiness in he life outside skating

as for Nodari, good time to partner with Agafonova if she wants to switch to pairs
then there are other B rate girls who could go to pairs like Ovcharova, Sheveleva even Makarova

Nodari and Agafonova would be a good match size wise. Ovcharova and Sheveleva would need someone taller, and Ksenia someone much taller. Nodari is only 177 cm so any girl he teams up with would likely have to be around 155 cm or less. Agafonova even after her growth spurt is a good match, the others need someone in the vicinity of 185+ cm ideally.

^
or....
Maisuradze ? sounds like georgian last name with the " ili and the dze "
maybe he could find a partner soon but skate for Georgia ???? he will get more international assignments
It will be a hard battle to come back as pairs in the Russian Team

Nodari is facing a deep field with Volosozhar/Trankov, Kavaguti/Smirnov, Bazarova/Larionov, Davankova/Deputat, Stolbova/Klimov
and even his former co teammates Martiusheva/Rogonov are ahead of him now.

^
or....
Maisuradze ? sounds like georgian last name with the " ili and the dze "
maybe he could find a partner soon but skate for Georgia ???? he will get more international assignments
It will be a hard battle to come back as pairs in the Russian Team

Nodari is facing a deep field with Volosozhar/Trankov, Kavaguti/Smirnov, Bazarova/Larionov, Davankova/Deputat, Stolbova/Klimov
and even his former co teammates Martiusheva/Rogonov are ahead of him now.

I understand what you are saying but if he can't find any decent pairs girls in Russia, what is the chance of finding a girl in Georgia? I don't think they even have a pair for Georgia at all. If he were a singles skater, that could be fine. However, he needs a good partner.

I understand what you are saying but if he can't find any decent pairs girls in Russia, what is the chance of finding a girl in Georgia? I don't think they even have a pair for Georgia at all. If he were a singles skater, that could be fine. However, he needs a good partner.

As long as HE has Georgian citizenship (many Russian skaters switch to countries that were once part of the USSR) he wouldn't have to choose a Georgian girl---he could skate with a girl from any other country.

As long as HE has Georgian citizenship (many Russian skaters switch to countries that were once part of the USSR) he wouldn't have to choose a Georgian girl---he could skate with a girl from any other country.

OK, but I still think the chances of him going for Georgia are slim. I don't think he has citizenship but it has already been talked over that some do not want to go to other countries because they will not receive the same facilities, stipend, coaches, benefits. You know, he probably is not rich enough to pay everything out of his pocket. And many of the countries from the former USSR do not spend a lot of money on sports.

Is there a link to the Pavlova interview where she says Lubov's recent weight loss was Lubov's decision? I had assumed it was Pavlova who was pushing her to do so.

Agafonova could be a decent partner for Maisuradze but does anyone know her current height? She seems to have grown a lot.

I don't know why Makarova and Mukhortova are being mentioned. Mukhortova is fairly tall at 1.62. Trankov is more than tall enough but Nodari at 1.77 would be way too short for her.

Makarova turning to pairs doesn't make the slightest bit of sense. She's listed as 1.67 m. Sure, there are some like Vanessa James and Ashley Cain who can achieve modest success but they'll never be able to fight for a place in the top five in the world. Huge triple twists are becoming increasingly necessary to reach the top. It's unlikely Makarova would consider switching to a more dangerous discipline which offers her no hope of getting out of Russian nationals. She's not likely to even find a partner. At her listed height, it would be tough, and I read somewhere that she's actually closer to 1.70 m now. So she would need a partner who's at least 1.92 m.

I do wish Maisuradze would consider skating for Georgia because the competition in Russia will probably remain tough even after V/T and K/S retire. Bazarova/Larionov are likely to stay on, Martiusheva/Rogonov and Davankova/Deputat show a lot of potential to be well-rounded pairs, Stolbova/Klimov are good jumpers even if lacking posture and grace, Gerboldt/Enbert are decent, Gainetdinova/Bich could be very strong once they become more comfortable with the switch to pairs, and who knows what other junior pairs will appear in the next couple of seasons.

Agafonova actually is not a bad idea. She can do basic jumps (triple toes and salchows) and is fairly short. I think she should consider it because I don't see much of a future for her in singles. Not good enough compared to other Russian girls.

I understand what you are saying but if he can't find any decent pairs girls in Russia, what is the chance of finding a girl in Georgia? I don't think they even have a pair for Georgia at all. If he were a singles skater, that could be fine. However, he needs a good partner.

well he doesn't even need to find a girl in Georgia
I was talking about training in Russia but skate for a different country, other russian skaters have done that
those who can't compete nationally switch nationalities or get dual citizenship just to be represented internationally

well he doesn't even need to find a girl in Georgia
I was talking about training in Russia but skate for a different country, other russian skaters have done that
those who can't compete nationally switch nationalities or get dual citizenship just to be represented internationally

Oh, I get it. But doesn't your partner also need to have Georgian citizenship? Or is it enough for just him to have it? If his partner also needs citizenship, then he would have to find a Russian girl and convince her to get switch nationalities as well (which might be troublesome). But I'm not sure how the system works.

Is there a link to the Pavlova interview where she says Lubov's recent weight loss was Lubov's decision? I had assumed it was Pavlova who was pushing her to do so.

Agafonova could be a decent partner for Maisuradze but does anyone know her current height? She seems to have grown a lot.

I don't know why Makarova and Mukhortova are being mentioned. Mukhortova is fairly tall at 1.62. Trankov is more than tall enough but Nodari at 1.77 would be way too short for her.

Makarova turning to pairs doesn't make the slightest bit of sense. She's listed as 1.67 m. Sure, there are some like Vanessa James and Ashley Cain who can achieve modest success but they'll never be able to fight for a place in the top five in the world. Huge triple twists are becoming increasingly necessary to reach the top. It's unlikely Makarova would consider switching to a more dangerous discipline which offers her no hope of getting out of Russian nationals. She's not likely to even find a partner. At her listed height, it would be tough, and I read somewhere that she's actually closer to 1.70 m now. So she would need a partner who's at least 1.92 m.

I do wish Maisuradze would consider skating for Georgia because the competition in Russia will probably remain tough even after V/T and K/S retire. Bazarova/Larionov are likely to stay on, Martiusheva/Rogonov and Davankova/Deputat show a lot of potential to be well-rounded pairs, Stolbova/Klimov are good jumpers even if lacking posture and grace, Gerboldt/Enbert are decent, Gainetdinova/Bich could be very strong once they become more comfortable with the switch to pairs, and who knows what other junior pairs will appear in the next couple of seasons.

Pavlova was definitely not the one pressuring Lubov to lose weight, she said in an interview that Lubov was being very stubborn about keeping her weight so low because she thought it would help her land her jumps. Maybe a few seasons ago, Pavlova encouraged Lubov to lose weight, but certainly not now, you could see on the GP that Lubov was a bit emaciated looking and I'm sure that contributed to her struggles and loss of spark.

As for Agafonova, she is not that tall. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fb...type=3&theater Polina Shelepen has said on her formspring she is 165 cm and Zijun Li is listed as 155 cm, though next to Shelepen she looks more 158-160 cm, which again looks about right next to Vanessa Lam who is listed at 154 cm http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fb...type=3&theater. Agafonova and Lam are nearly the exact same height, Lam even looks a hair taller, making Polina likely 153 cm (5'0") which is the same height as Lubov. Given that she turns 16 next week and has already grown a lot compared to before, I doubt she grows much more. She is not as skinny as Lubov but Polina still has a small frame so size wise she would be a good match for Nodari. She did grow a lot but she's still significantly smaller than someone like Ovcharova or Sheveleva.

Surprisingly, Shelepen made some comments on her formspring saying that she has interest in pairs. At 165 cm finding a suitable partner might be a bit hard, but she's not too tall for pairs, especially with her slender build. And after missing out on Worlds/Euros this season and the eligible field getting only steeper in the years to come, idk, I wonder if she would make the switch if she could find a partner who matched her size wise and expressed interest. Obviously, Nodari is too small, but isn't Dmitriev rather tall? He might not be a bad option.

It's really disappointing then that Lubov didn't listen to Pavlova (but I do think Pavlova's comments post-split were over the top). Lubov looked very unhealthy this season and the weight loss did not help her skating one bit. At least in 2010-11, she was landing triple jumps some of the time, even if she wasn't consistent. This season she didn't land any.

It appears that Agafonova does remain a good prospect for pair skating. Especially if she were to skate with Maisuradze for Georgia. I'm not convinced that they would break through in Russia though.

But I don't think Shelepen would do any better in pairs than singles. Her height being one reason but also she just doesn't seem to have any particular qualities that would make her a great pair skater, i.e. skating skills, grace, musicality or flexibility. And like most singles transitioning to pairs, her jumping ability will probably decline when she has to think about jumping in unison with her partner and working on new types of elements.

Artur Dmitriev is listed as 1.75 m. It's possible he's grown but Shelepen would probably need someone about 1.87 m or taller to score well on lifts and twists.